Facile synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles grown on halloysite nanotubes for enhanced photocatalytic properties.

We demonstrated herein that ZnO nanoparticle with sizes in the range of 3-5 nm grown on the surface of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) could be facile prepared in large quantities through the seed-mediated growth process using ZnAc·2HO as the zinc source. Compared with the individually dispersed ZnO nanoparticles, the as-prepared HNTs@ZnO nanocomposites showed a smaller band gap energy and relatively strong light absorption. Therefore, HNTs@ZnO nanocomposites possessed higher photocatalytic activity than individually dispersed ZnO nanoparticles, exhibiting the HNTs@ZnO nanocomposites could be used as highly efficient photocatalysts. The HNTs@ZnO nanocomposites endowed HNTs special performance and improve the catalytic activity of ZnO, which originated from narrow band gap and chemical passivation induced by a negative fixed charge in the HNTs support.